James Baldwin: When the word democracy is taken to mean, is taken to be a synonym for, mediocrity.
When the trust of a society is not to raise, all of its members to the highest, possible level.
But on the contrary, to reduce, such members as aspire to excellence, down to the lowest common denominator.
We have begun to see, what happens when a country confuses its politics, with a popularity contest.
We have begun to see, that the grasp of reality which I'd say we do not have, is what endangers us far more than Khrushchev and far more than Castro.
In the world, that what we do not know, about our black citizens, is what we do not know, about ourselves.
And what we do not know about ourselves, is what we do not know about the world, and the world knows it.
Nothing can save us ( -- ) not all our money, nor all our bombs, nor all our guns,
if we cannot, achieve,
a long, long, long delayed maturity.
Thank you
[[Applause]]